He’s Back – Part Man, Part Machine, All Sequel

There is a trend going on in Hollywood right now where an older movie franchise is being revitalised with all new sequels that ignore the previous entries in the franchise, the sequels are also bringing back some of the original cast and crew. Later this year, we will see a new Halloween flick that will be a direct sequel to the 1978 original to celebrate the 40th anniversary and ignore all the sequels in the series. This new Halloween will see the return of not only Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode but John Carpenter is also back as producer and will also recreate the iconic music.

Then there is Terminator due out next year. Again, ignoring the sequels and this will be the “real” Terminator 3. Of course Arnie is back as the T-800 but the film will also see Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, plus James Cameron is on board as producer. But there is another film getting the same treatment, one of my all time favorite action/sci-fi flicks in fact. Robocop is coming back to the big screen.

As of right now, details are a hard to find but the title seems to be Robocop Returns and will be a direct sequel to the 1987 original. The writers of the original film, Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner have written the sequel but it is being touched up by Justin Rhodes. And for those not in the know, Rhodes is the person who wrote the screenplay for the new Terminator flick that is currently being filmed. Robocop Returns is set to be directed by Neill Blomkamp who’s directing credits include District 9 and Elysium.

Nothing has been said about the cast yet, but it would be great to see the likes of Peter Weller and Nancy Allen return as Alex J. Murphy/Robocop and Anne Lewis respectively. Also just to repeat, Robocop Returns screenplay is being written by the same person behind the new Terminator sequel…

Robocop and Terminator have had a bit of a history in comics and games over the years but never made it to the big screen. Plus shared universes are all the rage right now. Using the same writer for both Robocop Returns and the new Terminator sequels can’t be coincidence can it?

We could be witnessing the build up to one of the most eagerly awaited cyborg battles ever.